1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an insect trap for detecting, capturing, monitoring and controlling populations of numerous injurious species of the Coleopteran order of insects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous species of the Coleopteran order, particularly the boll weevil, have been the most economically damaging insects in the agriculture of the United States. Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost annually due solely to boll weevils. Use of chemical pesticides for controlling boll weevils is very expensive, adding up to tens of millions of dollars per year for protecting cotton plants that are susceptible to boll weevils. Several traps for capturing boll weevils have been presented in the prior art, particularly in Patent Nos. 3,949,515, 3,987,577 and 4,611,425. In general, the traps presented in the patents provide a base member that has a top, an inverted wire mesh funnel that has an orifice and that is connected to the base member to create an annular space between the orifice of the funnel and the top of the base member, and a capture chamber on top of the funnel so that the apex of the funnel substantially extends into the capture chamber. Boll weevils crawl upwardly upon the base member, through the annular space between the funnel and the base member, upwardly along the inside of the funnel, and through an opening at the apex of the funnel, out of the funnel and into the capture chamber. A lure that emits a sex and aggregation pheromone is placed inside the capture chamber to attract the boll weevils to the trap and into the capture chamber. Additionally, insecticides may be placed in the capture chamber to kill the boll weevils. Before the invention of these weevil traps, trapping efforts have not been satisfactory for detecting and monitoring weevil populations during the critical production period of a cotton crop.
A primary object of the invention is to provide an insect trap for detecting, capturing, monitoring and controlling adult stages of economically damaging insect pest populations, for example cotton boll weevils, sweet potato weevils, pepper weevils, rice water weevils, citrus weevils, pecan weevils and the like.
Another object of the invention is to produce an insect trap that is sufficiently lightweight to be capable of being supported by wooden stakes, broom sticks, bamboo or fiber glass rods, but that is simultaneously held sufficiently stably to avoid being blown off by high windy conditions.
Yet another object of this invention is to produce an insect trap that is small enough to not interfere with tractors and farm equipment that work around a field.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an insect trap that is more efficient in pheromone liberation, easier to assemble, easier to mount on stakes and less expensively fabricated than the prior art.
An additional object of this invention is to provide an insect trap that is easy to clean and maintain.
A further object of this invention is to produce an insect trap that may be quickly hand-assembled without using special tools, that has components that when damaged may be readily replaced, that can be readily dissembled and stored and that has parts which may be compactly stored.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in a detailed description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The present invention is an insect trap that comprises a plastic base member, a plastic guiding member removably connected to and supported by the base member and a capture chamber removably connected to and supported by the guiding member. The base member is injection molded as one piece by using a single mold and comprises a top, an open bottom, a tubular body extending from the top to the open bottom, a number of openings in the top and, optionally, a plurality of holes in the tubular body and a semi-tubular extension, having tapered veins, extending downwards from the top. The guiding member is injection molded as one piece by using a single mold and is removably connected to the top of the base member. The guiding member comprises a lower ring, an upper ring that is smaller in diameter than the lower ring, plastic meshes and connecting means. The plastic meshes have a lower section, that extends from and connects the lower ring to the upper ring, and an upper section, that extends upwardly from the upper ring as a conical body with an apex having an orifice. The connecting means extend downwardly from and are encircled by the lower section of the plastic meshes and are used for removably connecting the guiding member to the top of the base member. The upper ring is tubular and has an outer vertical surface and a top surface, with a number of apertures and a number of holes in the top surface of the upper ring. The capture chamber comprises a cylindrical upright body, an open bottom end, a perforated top end, a bottom ring encircling the bottom end and having a number of holes, locking elements extending downwardly from the cylindrical upright body, retention blades, extending from and interior to the cylindrical upright body and preferably extending downwards from the perforated top end and used for holding as many as two pheromone dispensers, and a set of pockets, extending from the cylindrical upright body, preferably used for holding the insecticide dispenser and/or as a site for aggregation of insects. The locking elements of the capture chamber are inserted into corresponding apertures in the upper ring of the guiding member. In addition, a tying means may be inserted via one hole of the bottom ring, then through the corresponding aperture in the upper ring of the guiding member and then returned upwards through the adjacent hole in the upper ring and then through the corresponding hole of the bottom ring to be tied back to itself.
It is to be understood that the descriptions of this invention are exemplary and explanatory, but are not restrictive, of the invention. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following specification and from any accompanying charts, examples and drawings.